vanless transport

[BoredAtWork925]

I have a board bag for my board and a quiver bag for three sails, two masts (400 & 430), boom etc. The board bag is a 'Predator' and the quiver bag is a 'Pro Limit Session, Wave 430'. All of that goes on the roof. The nice thing about this is that I never forget anything, and I save time checking this! When I want to go windsurfing, I simply pop both bags on the roof and off I go.

The board goes on the roof first face down, with the rear roof bar between the front and back footstraps to hold it fore aft, and then the bag straps down on top. The board bag straps down via loops on the side so there's nothing to crush the sails. I use four very short tie down straps. This means that my bag with wetsuit etc is all that goes in the car - I have a brilliant Tribord waterproof bag (which is so waterproof I fill it with water to rinse my kit off), so the bag will just sit in the boot without making it stink or get wet etc. If the forecast is marginal I take a SUP with me, which lives in a custom board bag from 'WhatSUP'.

mpg @ 70mph without the stuff on the roof: 67-75, depending how I drive.
mpg @ 70mph with the stuff on the roof: about 50-52. Wind noise is surprisingly minimal and there's never any flapping etc, as both bags are made from tough inflexible material.

The only downside to this arrangement is the weight of the quiver bag. My car is very low, with the roofline well below my chest height, but even so the quiver bag is 27kg and a challenge to lift onto the roof, especially with the SUP board on there too, which makes it all higher (which confirms that I could never own a normal car with a high roofline!). I do have quite heavy sails and am in the process of replacing them with lighter ones. I've pulled a few muscles in the past and have a long standing back problem, so now I tend to just have the wet sail I've used in the bag on the roof and the two dry ones go in the back of the car, although if I had a family onboard I'd put the sails in the quiver bag, obviously. You could load them once the bag is on the roof, although it's a bit of a fiddle.

Hope that helps.

[Tony E]

I got a low price quiver bag here http://www.boardwisecannock.co.uk/bo...2ec7c8c2f0b943 and this has worked well for me. Agree with the weight once loaded is quite heavy and so now I load the bag once its already on the roof. The straps go round the masts rather than the sails. If I put two boards on the roof I have a double board-bag. Modern cars are great, my 75BHP [mighty] Berlingo gets this stuff on the roof, 5 in the car and tows a caravan. Don't get behind me on a hill though.

[boards_martinc]

About the same as Crossy - 3 boards, surfboard, 5 sails, mast and booms on roof and 3 bikes on the bike rack goes to Cornwall every Easter and South France every summer. Fuel efficiency is horrendous. Obvs.

[tgregory]

thanks for the tips, am doing a trial run this weekend going to Argyll from Glasgow, first May Bank holiday is Glasgow to Rhosneigr - if you see a car with kit falling off it, please do flash those lights!!!!

[smidge]

I havent put kit up top for decades, but a few tips:
- Minimise the amount of board sticking out the front as the force from wind on the board is substantial - I blame this for a Mistral Screamer 2 developing a fold about 2 feet back from its nose.
- In a crisis, if its all going pear shaped, if you have long enough lines you can thread them through the open doors and across the top of the passenger compartment and back over your kit then close the doors on them. This can get you home (slowly) if roofrack starts to wobble.....
- Dont ignore strange new clanking sounds!
- Putting 2 boards on top of each other is a 2 person job if the wind is blowing
- If you stop overnight then put as much as possible inside the car. Lockable straps are better than nothing but arent great
- Check it all yourself before you set off - the cost of a divorce if your spouse fails to tighten it up properly is not worth risking

[Navegante]

I got a low price quiver bag here http://www.boardwisecannock.co.uk/bo...2ec7c8c2f0b943 and this has worked well for me. Agree with the weight once loaded is quite heavy and so now I load the bag once its already on the roof. The straps go round the masts rather than the sails. If I put two boards on the roof I have a double board-bag. Modern cars are great, my 75BHP [mighty] Berlingo gets this stuff on the roof, 5 in the car and tows a caravan. Don't get behind me on a hill though.

I have that bag and it has outlasted everything fancy I've had. Months in the sun, sandblasted on long 4x4 beach treks etc.

[Navegante]

You may want to check out extra wide roof bars like the sit-on-top kayak users have.